Christopher Wilson

Christopher Wilson is Deputy Director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he leads the Institute’s research and programming on regional economic integration and U.S.-Mexico border affairs. He is the author of Working Together: Economic Ties between the United States and Mexico (Wilson Center, 2011) and coauthor of the State of the Border Report (Wilson Center, 2013). Chris has testified before the United States Congress and is regularly consulted by national and international media outlets regarding U.S.-Mexico relations. He has written opinion columns for the Wall Street Journal, Politico, CNN, and Reuters, among others. Chris previously worked as a contractor doing Mexico analysis for the U.S. military and as a researcher at American University’s Center for North American Studies. In Mexico, he worked briefly with the international trade consultancy IQOM, Inteligencia Comercial, and with American students studying regional political and social issues. He completed his M.A. in International Affairs at American University, focusing on U.S. foreign policy and hemispheric relations.

Related Content for this Expert

With the North American Free Trade Agreement completing 20 years, it is a good moment to reflect and look toward the region’s future and its place in the world economy. It is important to recognize that NAFTA was a first-generation free trade agreement, originally conceived in the 1980s, and for that reason it was very limited. more

In this Context interview, an international panel offered their perspectives on the 20th Anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement and its successes, failures, and implications for future trade agreements. more

On December 9, 2013, Christopher Wilson testified in front of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs,Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, addressing the issue of U.S.-Mexico trade and border management. His testimony focused on the development of a multifaceted approach to border management that promotes security, trade and competitiveness, and a high quality of life for those living in the border region. more

Francisco Guerrero, Electoral Councilor of the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico (IFE), will present his book, The Vote of Mexicans Abroad: History, Reflections, and a Look toward the Future. Dr. Guerrero will also speak about current proposals for a political reform in Mexico and the evolving electoral system. more

Vice-President Joe Biden visited Mexico on Friday to inaugurate the first High Level Economic Dialogue between the two nations. Duncan Wood and Christopher Wilson write about the importance of the dialogue and the role of the vice president. more

Vice President Joseph Biden is in Mexico to officially launch the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) as a reflection of the enormous importance of U.S. - Mexico relations. Program Associate Christopher Wilson discusses why this matters. more

Testifying at an ad-hoc hearing in front of Border Caucus members Rep. Grijalva, Rep. Vela, and Rep. O'Rourke, Mexico Institute Associate Christopher Wilson addressed the important issue of U.S.-Mexico trade in the context of the current immigration reform debate. more

In July, Mexico’s National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) released new statistics on poverty in Mexico. They show that Mexico's poverty rate fell slightly, but that the number of people living in poverty actually increased. This short article first explains the various components of Mexico’s poverty measurements and then explores some potential explanations for contradicting trends in income‐based poverty and multidimensional poverty. more

Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez, once the country’s most violent city, has seen violence drop dramatically in the last three years. The Woodrow Wilson Center’s Christopher Wilson explores whether the current government can do the same with Nuevo Laredo, the current epicenter of violence along the border. more

“It’s a huge, huge buildup,” said Chris Wilson, an analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “We doubled the border patrol in the 1990s. We doubled it again in the first decade of the century. Now we’re considering doubling it again.”

Cynthia Arnson, Eric Olson and Chris Wilson and commented on the Obama’s trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. Their comments were mentioned in this article about the issues that are going to be discussed with Obama’s visit to the region. This was also published in Worldland news.

A close reading of the senators’ framework gives the impression that the next round of strengthening border security might look a lot like previous rounds. That would be a mistake. Staffing and budgets for areas between the ports of entry have doubled since 2004 and are now at a level where even major increases would produce only marginal security gains.

“This type of crime, especially the sensational type, always has a negative effect on tourism,” said Christopher Wilson, a Mexico expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

“Look at the example of drugs and weapons smuggling,” Wilson says. “There are drug demand issues on the U.S. side, but there are weapons demand issues on the Mexican side, where there are also rule-of-law issues and violence. The task force sought ways to share responsibility and work together to confront these interconnected problems.”

The cuts probably won’t dramatically increase crime or significantly compromise border security, said Chris Wilson, an associate with the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, a Washington-based research group. The number of Border Patrol agents has doubled in the last decade, and illegal activity along the border between the ports of entry has fallen.

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As the debate over immigration reform has brought the management of the U.S.-Mexico border back into the spotlight, the Mexico Institute is pleased to invite you to the launch of its new State of the Border Report.

On the same day that President Obama begins his trip to Latin America, the authors of the Mexico Institute’s new policy report will present their recommendations for strengthening U.S.-Mexico relations.

In 2009, the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs convened the Binational Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border. The group issued a series of recommendations regarding border management, which were detailed in the report, “Managing the United States-Mexico Border: Cooperative Solutions to Common Challenges.” Now, as border management plays a key role in the debate over immigration reform, the Task Force will reconvene to evaluate progress in managing the U.S.-Mexico border.

As one of the architects of the 21st Century Border initiative, Alan Bersin, Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, delivered a keynote address at a discussion on developing efficient and secure border management strategies.

Unlike China or Europe, Mexico and Canada are fundamentally different trading partners to the United States. They more closely resemble side-by-side workers on a common assembly line than transactional buyers and sellers separated by long distances. Working Together argues that enhanced economic integration can help meet the goal of doubled U.S. exports by 2015, sustain jobs throughout North America, and sharpen the region’s competitiveness against other world blocs. At the report’s launch Wednesday, author Chris Wilson of the Mexico Institute also stressed the largely unpublicized benefits Mexico trade poses for interior U.S. districts far from the southern border.

The Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, American University’s Department of Government, and American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies were glad to host a discussion with the authors of two new books: "Politics, Identity, and Mexico's Indigenous Rights Movements" and "Popular Movements in Autocracies: Religion, Repression, and Indigenous Collective Action in Mexico"

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On December 9, 2013, Christopher Wilson testified in front of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs,Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, addressing the issue of U.S.-Mexico trade and border management. His testimony focused on the development of a multifaceted approach to border management that promotes security, trade and competitiveness, and a high quality of life for those living in the border region.

Testifying at an ad-hoc hearing in front of Border Caucus members Rep. Grijalva, Rep. Vela, and Rep. O'Rourke, Mexico Institute Associate Christopher Wilson addressed the important issue of U.S.-Mexico trade in the context of the current immigration reform debate.

As the debate over immigration reform has brought the management of the U.S.-Mexico border back into the spotlight, this report provides a comprehensive look at the state of affairs in the management of the U.S.-Mexico border and the border region, focusing on four core areas: trade and competitiveness, security, sustainability, and quality of life. The report suggests that rather than consider each issue individually, the interdependent nature of topics like trade and security demand the border be approached from a more holistic perspective.

The depth of economic ties with Mexico, together with declines in illegal immigration and organized crime violence in Mexico, open up an opportunity for U.S. policymakers to deepen the economic relationship with Mexico and to engage Mexico more on major global issues.

More than a billion dollars of goods are traded across the US-Mexico border each day. With so much commerce, efficient and secure border management is essential to promote the competitiveness of the US and Mexico. This report identifies strategies to meet this challenge.

The report looks at the ways in which regional economic cooperation can enhance competitiveness, stimulate growth and create jobs. There is no doubt that the economies of the United States and Mexico are facing serious challenges. While some of the risk is due to external pressures, whether increasing competition from Asia or fears of crisis in Europe, much of the solution lies in strengthening regional competitiveness. The path forward, then, must be based in a clear understanding that the United States and Mexico are ultimately partners rather than competitors.

As organized crime‐related violence has increased in northern Mexico, so has the heated rhetoric regarding the U.S. side of the border. The title of National Geographic’s program, Border Wars, exemplifies the sentiment, echoed by several politicians, that the border region is lawless and dangerous. For residents of the U.S. border region, thankfully, the reality is anything but that.

An overview of Mexico's Politics, Economy, and Society and an assessment of key issues in U.S.-Mexico Relations with particular focus on economic integration, security cooperation, migration, and the U.S.-Mexico border.

David Rusk, a former mayor of Albuquerque, joins us for a look at his book, “Cities without Suburbs.” Blair Ruble joins the discussion. Christopher Wilson discusses the newly released “The State of the Border Report."